Non-Committal
by Forever-Furuba
Summary: Half as a formality, half as a joke, the Bog King was invited to Marianne and Roland's wedding. No one expected him to actually show up, let alone comfort the bride-not-to-be. (By popular demand, there is now a sequel, titled 'Engaged In Combat'.)


_**Strange Magic Week** is a tumblr event, which this year lasts from Monday August 15th to Sunday August 21st. __The challenges/prompts (and what I did with them) are as follows:_ _  
_

 _1\. Fairy Tale of creator's choice AU (I did a crossover with Thumbelina, where the two fairy kingdoms have diplomatic ties)_

 _2\. Wedding/Arranged Marriage (Bog shows up at Marianne's wedding to Roland, and meets her for the first time after she cancels it)_

 _3\. Tiny People in Jars (Pare finds a snow globe and everyone is creeped out by it)_

 _4\. Dark Fantasy AU (What if feels like to be love-dusted)_

 _5\. Role Reversal (Dawn is the Crown Princess, Marianne is her little sister)_

 _6\. Babies/Next Generation (Goblins do not know where fairy babies come from)_

 _7\. SciFi AU_ _(In a world of ever-singing magical beings, a music box is equivalent to an A.I.)_

* * *

"Before we begin, I have an announcement to make." The blue-clad, pink-winged fairy at the front of the room cleared her throat. "We're not going to begin. The wedding has been called off."

There was an immediate uproar of questions and whispers from the assembly. The Bog King, seated with his mother in a place of honour for visiting royalty, was relieved at not having to endure a saccharine ceremony after all, but irritated to have journeyed to the Fairy Kingdom for nothing.

He managed to get outside, making vague noises in response to his mother's speculations and concerns for the unseen fairy princess, before someone called him back.

"King Bog, wait!"

"Bog King," he corrected.

It was the younger fairy princess, the one who'd ended the wedding on her sister's behalf.

"I just – wanted to say," she stammered, "it would have meant a lot to Marianne to know you came."

"Let her know I support her decision." Assuming she hadn't cancelled her wedding to elope with someone else. "There's a reason love is banned in the Dark Forest."

Griselda smacked him on the leg.

"I'll fly you back to the border," the princess insisted. "I feel bad that you came all this way, just to have to turn around and go home."

Bog accepted the escort with a sigh.

They were retrieving Griselda's dragonfly from the stables – Bog could carry her, of course, but that didn't project the right image for a fearsome ruler or a formal visit – when the Bog King heard angry music. Behind the stables, a fairy woman was attacking some kind of statue with a stick.

Her technique was sloppy. Bog wasn't sure if that was due to anger or poor training, but he couldn't stand to watch sloppy fighting. He stepped in and used his sceptre to block her next strike.

"If that's meant to be a sword, you'll get more power in a thrust if you grasp the hilt in one hand and use the other to stabilize the pommel."

She narrowed her burning brown eyes and adjusted her grip, then tried to 'stab' Bog's belly scales. He dodged to the left and nearly tripped her. The dingy white hem of her skirt collected more mud. Purple wings flared and she took off, aiming her next strike at Bog's neck.

"You can't depend on your wings alone." He tapped one, putting her off-balance again and forcing her to land. "Sometimes they just make you a bigger target."

"Target this!" She spun and kicked the ground. A gob of mud flew at Bog's face. This time he was the one who took to the air, allowing it to splatter harmlessly over his heart.

"Not bad."

Her snarl shifted into a fierce grin.

Bog's next strike snapped her stick in half. She tossed the broken end at him and snatched up another one from the ground. She drove Bog back against the stable wall. He hopped over her head. They both spun. She swung at his unguarded leg.

"Bend your knees," he told her, stepping out of range again. "With a deeper stance" – he deflected another blow to his stomach – "you'll be harder to knock over."

She hit his wrist. He almost dropped his sceptre. He knocked her stick out of her hand and into the air. She grabbed his sceptre, yanking him forward and kicking him in the chest, knocking the wind out of him while she caught her practice weapon.

"Impressive," Bog panted.

"Marianne, what are you doing?!"

Suddenly allied, the two fighters turned in defensive stances to face –

"Dawn?"

"What is wrong with you today? First you call off your wedding and now you're attacking the Bog King?"

Bog's eyes darted back and forth between the younger fairy princess and … elder fairy princess, Heir Apparent to the crown of the Fairy Kingdom.

"It was more of a friendly spar than an attack," he said.

Now was not the best time to insult his neighbours by pointing out that whoever trained their royalty in self-defence had been only marginally competent. The princess had improved noticeably during the fight, suggesting she was a good student, but it was just as noticeable that the techniques Bog suggested were new to her.

"Maybe she can come to the Forest sometime and you can spar again," Griselda suggested with a wide smile.

Bog and Marianne exchanged uncertain looks.

"Well, um …?"

They both shrugged.


End file.
